And what are thieves doing with other people’s identities? They increasingly use the information to go shopping via eBay, Amazon and PayPal, Javelin says.

One bright note: Consumers, retailers and financial institutions are getting better at fighting the theft, Javelin says. Thieves made away with $18 billion last year – $3 billion less than the year before.

“Consumers and businesses cannot let up the effort,” Al Pascual, a senior analyst with Javelin said in a statement. “Our study found that criminals are adapting their approach to focus on account takeover and they are effective at using the information they secure from data breaches. Any complacency will provide fraudsters renewed opportunities.”